People On Welfare

AS A nonsmoker and self-supporting taxpayer, I am confused (but apparently more intelligent). Either Gov. Chiles thinks the people on welfare are stupid and can't make a decision for themselves, or he is simply looking for a scapegoat when going after the tobacco companies.Why not place the responsibility on the person receiving the public assistance? Why don't we say that, if you smoke, we won't pay for your medical care? We need to stop taking personal responsibility away from the individual.

As a college student, Hugh Ward was good at math, but he didn't have a clear career goal. As he pondered his future, Ward reflected upon the values his parents instilled in him about the importance of a quality education. They taught him to be grateful to live in a country with opportunities. Ward also was moved by President John F. Kennedy's quotation, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Through teaching, Ward learned, he could give to his country.

President Clinton's welfare reform task force was criticized Thursday by Washington's congressional delegate, who said the panel ''completely underestimates the straight-out prejudice against people on welfare.'' Eleanor Holmes Norton said welfare recipients want to work, but there are no jobs and employers don't want to hire people who have been on the welfare rolls. ''Prejudice against people on welfare is the functional equivalent of racial prejudice, circa 1920, even if the person is well prepared now and may even have a work history,'' Norton told the task force as it opened the second in a series of hearings around the country.

WASHINGTON -- Seeking to launch a second stage of welfare reform, House members Thursday approved stiffer work requirements for people on welfare and new efforts to promote marriage among the poor. As Congress conducted its first major debate on welfare since a sweeping policy overhaul in 1996, the Republican majority also approved a $2 billion increase in child-care spending, rejecting Democrats' demands for a much larger increase. The final vote of 229-197 closely followed party lines and reflected a sharp partisan divide over government's role in helping those who depend on public aid or are struggling to escape it. Only 14 of the chamber's 211 Democrats supported the bill.

CHARLEY REESE is on the mark once again with ''Taxpayers Won't Tolerate Gross Injustice of Welfare Much Longer.''I am self-employed and taxed, taxed, taxed, yet I have none of the services available to the illegal aliens and the people on welfare.Should the citizens of this country have to provide to others that which is not available to themselves? Is that fair?Yes, Charley Reese, there is a crisis.George W. EvansCLERMONT

NEW YORK - This city, where the number of people on welfare has fallen sharply because of stiffer rules and a stronger economy, released a study Monday that showed most of those who left the system found jobs. In a survey of 126 former welfare participants, the city's Human Resources Administration said 54 percent of those responding landed full-time or part-time jobs. About six months after dropping off the welfare rolls in November, 58 percent said they were supporting their families mainly through work, with a median wage of $7.50 per hour.

The city on Thursday launched a first-of-its-kind program that allows people on welfare to work and encourages businesses to hire them. Welfare recipients, who on average receive the equivalent of $3.38 an hour in food stamps and welfare grants, instead will be paid $6.88 to $7 an hour while learning job skills. Their usual welfare payment is turned over to the employer, who adds a few dollars to it and pays it to the welfare worker as salary. Employers benefit by getting workers for low wages.

How much is too much to pay people on welfare to use birth control? How much is too little? Those were the questions debated Wednesday as the House Aging and Human Services Committee considered a bill to set up a pilot project to experiment with birth control bonuses.Committee members decided on $200 a year for women and $500 for men. Rep. George Albright, R-Ocala, said no more than $100,000 would be spent on the experiment and the committee voted 12-7 to approve the bill (CS-HB 1451).

President Reagan, asserting that people on welfare are not lazy bums or cheaters, Monday launched his long-awaited drive to muster public and congressional support for welfare reforms based on more state and local involvement.In remarks to 150 critics of the welfare system, Reagan urged them to help devise new methods for dealing with welfare programs.The president said he believes most people on welfare ''want nothing more than to be independent, free of the social workers and out on their own.''Reagan said welfare costs have risen from $20 billion in 1960 to more than $130 billion today, adding that academic studies show that the number of poor people ''actually went up as the federal government spent more.

The recently passed welfare-reform bill will fail because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the deterioration of the criminal-justice system, immigration, the immorality of the entertainment industry, the deterioration of public education, and political correctness.Wow, all of that? Yep. Americans generally make two errors when they consider public policy. One is to look at a problem in isolation. Nothing exists in isolation except planets and stars.

WASHINGTON -- The easy days of welfare reform are over. For seven years, caseloads declined at record rates. Now welfare rolls are rising in 33 states, because of the recession. Job cutbacks and hiring freezes make it harder for people on welfare to find work. Many who did have been laid off and are finding that they earned too little or worked too briefly to qualify for unemployment benefits. The problems present new challenges for welfare that could worsen if the recession continues.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Department of Social Services this week began providing child care, transportation and other support services for former welfare recipients while they attend school as well as while they work. ``That's a real positive step,'' said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, who asked the department to make the change. Berkowitz said the policy will give former welfare recipients a boost in their efforts to lift themselves out of poverty.

It is no coincidence that Florida's welfare-to-work program is known by the acronym WAGES, which stands for ``work and gain economic self-sufficiency.''The goal of the program is not just to get people off the welfare rolls, but also to get them into jobs that pay enough to support them and their families.Michael Poole, the Orlando investment banker who is chairman of the state WAGES Board, is pleased with some of WAGES' results.For one thing, the number of people on welfare in Central Florida has plunged more than 70 percent since the program was launched 2 1/2 years ago. Most of that 70 percent is now employed.

NEW YORK - This city, where the number of people on welfare has fallen sharply because of stiffer rules and a stronger economy, released a study Monday that showed most of those who left the system found jobs. In a survey of 126 former welfare participants, the city's Human Resources Administration said 54 percent of those responding landed full-time or part-time jobs. About six months after dropping off the welfare rolls in November, 58 percent said they were supporting their families mainly through work, with a median wage of $7.50 per hour.

I was extremely disappointed when I read the article in the Dec. 7 Sentinel about the experimental ''Walk A Mile'' program, which paired welfare recipients with Central Florida politicians who chose to rise to the challenge of living on a food-stamp budget for a month.I thought the point of the program was to give the politicians a chance to see how their decisions affected the lives of others. The article, however, reported excuses and whining from public officials. One example was the Sanford city commissioner who complained that she was ''forced almost to become a vegetarian'' after doing without red meat for two weeks.

Vice President Al Gore praised the efforts of Goodwill Industries in helping welfare recipients find work during a visit Wednesday to the organization's Self-Sufficiency Center in Orlando.The storefront center on Central Avenue has helped 1,700 people, many of them welfare recipients, land jobs in the past three years. Eighty people a day walk through its front door seeking help.''It's a wonderful success story,'' Gore said. ''And to all those making the transition here in Orlando, my congratulations for giving us lessons we can apply nationwide.

YOUR ARTICLE on immunizations was interesting and also distressing. Considering the amount of time and effort the pharmaceutical people and scientists have devoted to immunization, it is a shame the cost and distribution has broken down.Something your article failed to address was the astronomical cost of these immunization products due to litigation. If the shots were as inexpensive as formerly, most everyone could afford them.I feel doctors would give these shots to people on welfare if the material was supplied by the county health department.

The debate over birth control bonuses for people on welfare got a second wind Wednesday when lawmakers agreed to take another look at the issue.Women could get $100 every three months for 10 years if they use birth control in a pilot project set up under the bill (CS-HB 1451). Men could get a single $500 payment for vasectomies.To be eligible, women must be on welfare or have an income below $10,587.50. Instead of cash bonuses, they could also opt for annual $400 vouchers that could be used for dental work or education.

If I were making the equivalent of $8 an hour on welfare for doing nothing, I certainly would not vote for some pol who promised to take that away and force me to go to work for $6 an hour.That, simply stated, is the fallacy of naive Republicans who think that they can outbid Democrats for the welfare vote. People on welfare can tell the difference between more and less.What many upwardly mobile, basically nice but naive Americans who have led nice lives in nice burbs do not wish to face is that through the years, politicians, in their quest for buyable votes, have constructed a fairly comfortable welfare state.

The recently passed welfare-reform bill will fail because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the deterioration of the criminal-justice system, immigration, the immorality of the entertainment industry, the deterioration of public education, and political correctness.Wow, all of that? Yep. Americans generally make two errors when they consider public policy. One is to look at a problem in isolation. Nothing exists in isolation except planets and stars.